Mythos
by indecisiveweaver
Summary: How do gods become gods? How do myths and legends start? What is the true power of prayer? Questions a priestess-in-training never thought to ask, but they will be answered anyway
1. First Sighting

When she first appeared to us, legend says she was covered in blood. A war, she said. One for the ages, she said, before collapsing.

My ancestors brought her into our home. She fed her broth and porridge until she could walk again. We were blessed with the most bountiful harvest we'd ever seen, and we didn't see a mouse all winter. The goddess first blessing upon our family.

When she could stand, another came to greet her. Two goddesses speaking to each other. "Brocton two point oh?" The new goddess asked our guest. "Ready to greet the white caps?"

They visited the Lord in his manor. She demanded he build her a temple. A place to be hers whenever she came to bestow her blessings upon us. He refused at first, for he was proud and greedy. She sent her plagues upon him, cursing him to famine until he conceded, but him alone. Every meal for the next week would vanish, devoured by a swarm the likes of which no one in this generation should ever see, the second he sat down in front of it, or it was placed in front of him, from the most lavish of meats to the most simple of breads.

He gave into her demands on the morning of the eighth day, and then gorged himself on simple porridge until he was sick. No one in the land has ever defied her so blatantly since.

Two others joined her not long after, and set up rooms in the temple. It is said that in each of the surrounding fiefdoms have a temple to her as well. Twelve in all. Priestesses and fervent worshippers will pilgrimage to each at least once in their lifetime, but she denies anyones plea to spread the word. "I have chosen my earthly domain. I will not wander, until I am forced to."

The next year, in the middle of the season, she came through to bless our homes and harvests, her bees buzzing and butterflies floating about, and we saw her in the gown she wears to this day. The skirt flows down from her waist, iridescent blacks and blues in thin sheets, her olive skin showing when she walks, and the green that reach up her front, like a scarabs horns, or hands in supplication, just covering her enough to be decent. And the gossamer veil, like wings of a dragonfly, obscuring her face. Since then, no one has seen her eyes, nor does she use them to see, staring forward like a blind woman, yet walking with the confidence of omnicients.


	2. Her Lieutenant

The first time her lieutenant stepped foot in our house was in my lifetime. The king had decided he wanted a war, and had sent his men to collect all the boys old enough to hold a sword. We prayed to her to bring our brother home, safe and sound. He was only a boy, younger than I am now.

She wore the head of a wolf on her like a helm. Another was draped across her shoulders, panting showing it still lived. That was the first I saw of her, her tunic a mix of pelts and fine silk. She was gruff, spoke in small bursts, not because she was rude, or didn't know what to say, because she had a way of saying all she needed to in the smallest amount possible.

She brought our brother back to us, riding on the back of one of her wolves, and demanded no thanks. She didn't say she heard our prayers, or thank us for our worship, or demand we bow before her. She just brought him, took our offering, told us the king won't do anything, and to say if he does, and left, her wolf pack trailing behind her, all tails wagging, as if they were trying to convey her satisfaction, rather than their own.


	3. Her Advisor

I haven't seen her advisor for years. I was very little when she passed though town, hoping to bring solace to a widower who's husband had disappeared.

It did not work. He had run off with a young girl before he died.

But she delivered the news with grace, and with a knowing smile, told the woman of all the good fortune that would come to her. The love she'd find now

She is hard to see, yet hard to miss. Her dress is more what isn't than is. Constructed of the cloth of the gods, it covers her up, coiling around her like a snake, but everywhere the dress lays vanishes, showing what is beyond her, as if those points are not of this world, or are hidden away from it.

She is known for her unmatched knowledge, and the secrets that she keeps are more dangerous than any sword. She could bring down more kings than any army. We are truly blessed to have her at our side.


	4. Her Guard

I've never seen her spy, nor has anyone I've asked, or anyone of whom I've read, but I do hear her chuckles, in the back of my mind, and see her children often enough. They are spritely, although not in a sense of size. Always lively and laughing, although I see that it might be a tired laugh, as if of someone who had never been a child.

I always considered it odd that she kept a goddess of mischief as a spy, but her talent at going unseen is unmatched.

Her tailor I saw at a festival once, she was wearing a dress that framed her as a sunflower. She faced our Lady all through the day, turning her head away at times, but always following her with her body. I've wondered the meaning behind that.

Her archer stays with her tailor, and will defer to her, but our Lady will take her word just as much as any other of her guard. I believe her archer and her tailor are lovers, though I have never voiced this. It is not our place to speculate about the lives of gods.

Her child is a bird, and he lives among them. Feathers woven across his tunic like channel, and his cloak unfurls like wings when he raises his arms. If she causes the bountiful harvest, he is the planter, bringing seed from far and wide to give us more to grow.


	5. Introduction

I say all that to tell you this: This is my journey to become a priestess of our Lady and her own. I'm not so bold or arrogant to think my story is any different from another's who walks the path I have chosen, except for that I have chosen to chronicle mine. I will be leaving tomorrow, the eleventh day in the month of April, for my Lady's main temple. My bags are packed and prepared, and I simply cannot wait.

I know it will be just the most wonderful experience.

I have been in correspondence with the other new apprentices, but I will be the only one in this year chosen to serve our Lady directly. Cassandra has been the most frequent with her replies. She will be serving the advisor of our Lady, due to her aptitude for fortune telling, and Felix will learn how to best suit my Lady's spy, the mischievous sort that he is. The others have simply sent verification of receiving my letter, and that they wish to meet me come tomorrow.

Oh to be the first in the family to serve as priestess, following in the footsteps of my ancestors who served her when she first graced the earth with her presence. I am so honored.

I fear I will not be able to sleep tonight


	6. April 11

April 11,

Today was not the first time I visited the main temple of my Lady, but I had never been allowed past the veil before. I had planned to share a room with the other apprentices, knowing the humble dwelling the temple was.

Don't misunderstand, the temple is grand and vast as it should be for such a Lady as ours is, but to hold so many people, to house and feed and launder so many, it would seem humble nonetheless, yet I have a room to my own, the first I ever had! Back at home (though this I must think of as home now, for it will be for now on, as long as I please my Lady), only Mama and Papa had a room to themselves, sectioned off with a removable wall. Here it's like a palace, with all four walls laid in stone and brick and marble, more beautiful than you can imagine. When I run my hand across the wall, I can barely feel the seams, as if each stone were fused in place rather than sealed with mortar. And it has so many levels, deep into the earth, unseen from the outside. There had to be at least three deep in the earth.

I expected a tour, grand as I had envisioned, but never for it to be led by the goddesses themselves. Her advisor had a smile that would be predatory on another, but with eyes so green and in a palace so bright, it was more than inviting. She spoke, telling us all about what life would be like from now on, our duties to care for the library, to study the texts and document the times ahead, to care for the dogs and the castle, but I never thought I'd see the weavers. Oh my Lady's weavers, it will be my task to care for them, to keep their environment clean, to take the finished silk to her tailor, and the bees, how beautiful they are. All their hives are built in boxes to be stacked in carts when my Lady tours, but it will be my task to harvest the honey and remove vermin when the hives eradicate trespassers.

Even more, I am gifted to be the personal assistant to my Lady, to keep track of her day to day, appointments, to write down what she dictates to me, to draft her letters, to take her laundry to be cleansed. I am to be the hand my Lady pilots as she wishes.

I cannot wait to train, to begin my duty. Tomorrow I begin lessons of history in the library, the stories of the gods themselves as written by my predecessors. Oh what fun this will be.

I must get to sleep, I have a long day tomorrow, and so much more to tell you


	7. April 12

April 12,

We were awoken just before dawn by buzzing in our ears. There is a strict fitness regimen for all apprentices, but none quite as strict as those employed under my Lady. I had thought I had prepared, by always offering to get water, but strength is not equal to stamina.

But even if I could barely breathe through all of it, and had the most awful cramp, I ran with my Lady! She ran with us all. I had known that the runs were a remnant of the world our Lady had come to us from, but for her to join us, so lead us. I've never felt so blessed in my life.

She even gave us new clothing. Tight fitting underclothes made by her spider's. I had never woefully length britches until this morn, but now they feel so good, so smooth and light, I never want go take them off. We've been given a few hours to eat, bathe, and get our rooms and laundry in order before the beginning of today's test. Today we will have written exams in history, penmanship, and memorization, to see our aptitude for administrative positions, although we can forego the tests if we would rather work more physical labor jobs, such as in the kennels, laundry, kitchen, or as inner-temple couriers (although for the last, they do prefer those with higher scores on memorization, to limit the amount of paper messages are written on, or if they are sent to my Lady's lieutenant, though I am not completely sure about why the last one matters). I have been practicing my penmanship and training my memory for more than a year, hoping to work more closely with my Lady. I will tell you more about it later.

Cassandra and I were the only one's wishing to take the exams. We will not know exactly how we did until tomorrow, but we are allowed the rest of the day to wander and enjoy the temple for today until dinner, because tomorrow we will begin our duties. I'm going to the library, where I hope to learn so much about my Lady and her guard. Wish me luck tomorrow. I'm nervous, but I know whatever task my Lady wishes for me to do I will do it as well as I can.


End file.
